At a time when poverty, climate change, inequality and closing the financial gap are the main challenges worldwide, companies play a very important role in achieving sustainable solutions to these global challenges. In this context, in 2020 Aqualia became a full member of the United Nations Global Compact, the world's largest sustainability initiative.
To mark the sixth anniversary of the adoption of the SDGs, a milestone that is celebrated every 25 September, Aqualia joins the initiative #apoyamoslosODS driven by the United Nations Global Compact Spain to promote the dissemination of the SDGs and raise awareness of the "Decade of Action" among its stakeholders.
Aqualia has therefore set out to involve its 10,525 employees worldwide, asking them to collaborate in making progress on six key steps to achieve SDG 6. Over the last week, twelve employees have acted as loudspeakers for the rest of the workforce and have starred in six videos in which they explain, in a very simple way, the measures available to them to promote the achievement of SDG 6. Improving infrastructures, reducing pollution, investing in research, combating water scarcity, raising public awareness and establishing partnerships are the six priority goals that mark Aqualia's roadmap for contributing to this Goal.
These videos have also been shared across social networks with the hashtag #apoyamoslosODS and, in addition, with the sixth anniversary approaching, Aqualia has created a new space on its website aqualia.com, where it compiles, with multimedia elements adapted for all audiences, information of interest about the SDGs and the six main measures to advance in the specific fulfilment of SDG 6, one of the pillars of the 2030 Agenda.
Commitment to facts
In addition to its commitment to promoting the Ten Universal Principles, since the approval of the 2030 Agenda in 2015, the company has worked to align its management with the Sustainable Development Goals, where it finds new opportunities to enhance sustainability, improve the relationship with its stakeholders and promote innovation.
In this regard, Aqualia has ratified its commitment to ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) criteria and has established a series of challenges and best practices aligned with its strategy. These include approval of the 2021-2023 Strategic Sustainability Plan for mapping out and also measuring the company's contribution to the fulfilment of the SDGs. More specifically, SDG 6 "Clean water and sanitation" is a priority goal for Aqualia.
Although important achievements have been made in recent years, billions of people around the world still suffer from supply problems: the United Nations reports that one in three people do not have access to safe drinking water, and two out of five lack the facilities for basic hygiene such as hand-washing. Contributing to the achievement of SDG 6 "Clean water and sanitation" is essential for guaranteeing global health and is one of Aqualia's raisons d'être, as it cuts across all its strategic lines.
Last June, Aqualia became the first comprehensive water cycle management company to receive AENOR's Sustainability Strategy and its contribution to the SDGs certification, for incorporating sustainability into the company's principles and for aligning the company's strategies with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that are most relevant to its activity.
In the words of Félix Parra, Aqualia CEO: “we are strategic allies for public administrations in the provision of all types of comprehensive water cycle services. We are also working with the public sector on sustainability so that together we can achieve the Sustainable Development Goals faster and leave no one behind".